Aa
Oral Wart
Doctors, Thank you for hosing this wonderful forum. I know questions like this have been asked in the past- but thought I would ask for my specific situation. I had an oral lesion in March on 2012. I went to the ENT who said looks like nothing, come back in 6 months. I recently went back and she said it had changed and now looks like a papilloma. Path report came back as a papilloma. My question is this, is an oral papilloma always related to a genital infection or from genital to oral contact.? The reason I ask is that I have not had any sexual contact in ~6 years and have been dating a virgin for around that long. I asked for typing to be performed but the pathologist said that how they screened it that would not be possible and all they could do is some sort of viral stain. I know there is a chance it was from oral-genital contact, but part of me believes that would be many reasons seeing how I have never had a wart anywhere else outside of my foot (checked my several dermatologist over the years for wrts) Also, the six plus year time lag makes me a little suspicious of its origin. Any knowledge on the subject is much appreciated.
Thanks!
Thanks!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
1) All warts are caused by HPV. The specific HPV type is unknown.
2) Yes. (I already said that!)
2) Yes. (I already said that!)
Never have had a genital lesion and my last sexual contact was six plus years. I was checked out last week by a derm who saw no signs of genital warts. Ent said the pappiloma would most likely not come back. With all that being said- would it be appropriate to say:
1. we don't know cause of the wart
2. I should forget about it pending the wart not coming back. No clinical risk to a partner (been tested for everything else, all negative)
1. we don't know cause of the wart
2. I should forget about it pending the wart not coming back. No clinical risk to a partner (been tested for everything else, all negative)
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
To my knowledge, the specific location in your oral cavity makes no difference in regard to HPV type, prognosis, treatment, or cancer risk. But this too would best be asked of your ENT doctor.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum. Thanks both for your question and your kind words about our service.
Oral papillomas (warts) are a lot less common than genital warts. They can be caused by both typical genital HPV types (HPV 6, 11, 16, 18, and many others) and by typical non-genital types, like HPV 1, the usual cause of common warts of the hands, feet, etc.
New genital warts usually show up within a few months to a year of catching the HPV strain causing them. To my knowledge this has not been well studied for oral wars, but I imagine the time frame would be similar. However, it can be as long as several years. In addition, the exact mechanism by which most oral warts are acquired -- other persons' hands, kissing, oral sex, or auto-inoculation (self transmission) from genital HPV infections -- is not well known.
I would advise both you and your partner to be on the lookout for genital area warts, and if you see anything suspicious, get it checked out. But both for genital and oral warts it is usually not possible to figure out when and where (or from whom) the HPV infection occurred, and I encourage you not to try to figure that out. If no genital area warts are apparent, and if you have no obvious recurrence of your oral wart, the best approach is to just forget about it and don't let it worry you.
Perhaps you have read about HPV and certain oral cancers. That's also not a worry in this circumstance. The HPV type that causes throat cancer (HPV-16) does not usually form typical papillomas, so you can be confident that the strain that caused your wart is not a cancer-causing one. Even if it were, the vast majority of HPV infections -- even with the highest risk types -- never lead to actual cancer; and although HPV-16-related throat cancer is increasing, it remains very rare.
As my comments imply, STD experts are not always the best source of information about oral HPV. My final suggestion, therefore, is that you follow the ENT doctor's advice about follow-up. Most likely you'll find that s/he agrees with most of what I have said.
I hope this has helped. Best wishes- HHH, MD
Oral papillomas (warts) are a lot less common than genital warts. They can be caused by both typical genital HPV types (HPV 6, 11, 16, 18, and many others) and by typical non-genital types, like HPV 1, the usual cause of common warts of the hands, feet, etc.
New genital warts usually show up within a few months to a year of catching the HPV strain causing them. To my knowledge this has not been well studied for oral wars, but I imagine the time frame would be similar. However, it can be as long as several years. In addition, the exact mechanism by which most oral warts are acquired -- other persons' hands, kissing, oral sex, or auto-inoculation (self transmission) from genital HPV infections -- is not well known.
I would advise both you and your partner to be on the lookout for genital area warts, and if you see anything suspicious, get it checked out. But both for genital and oral warts it is usually not possible to figure out when and where (or from whom) the HPV infection occurred, and I encourage you not to try to figure that out. If no genital area warts are apparent, and if you have no obvious recurrence of your oral wart, the best approach is to just forget about it and don't let it worry you.
Perhaps you have read about HPV and certain oral cancers. That's also not a worry in this circumstance. The HPV type that causes throat cancer (HPV-16) does not usually form typical papillomas, so you can be confident that the strain that caused your wart is not a cancer-causing one. Even if it were, the vast majority of HPV infections -- even with the highest risk types -- never lead to actual cancer; and although HPV-16-related throat cancer is increasing, it remains very rare.
As my comments imply, STD experts are not always the best source of information about oral HPV. My final suggestion, therefore, is that you follow the ENT doctor's advice about follow-up. Most likely you'll find that s/he agrees with most of what I have said.
I hope this has helped. Best wishes- HHH, MD
A little more detail, the pappiloma was on my Palatoglossal arch (fold), so pretty far back in the oral cavity
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
